Gaming machines typically consist of a composite of original equipment manufacturer (OEM) components and so-called “third party” components. Typical components generally include: a controller/computation unit, a bill acceptor, a coin hopper, a coin comparator; low-voltage button lights, low-voltage button push detectors, reels, reel drivers, one or more video monitors. In addition, components such as player tracking systems, ticket printers, fiduciary and/or secondary displays, etc., may also be added to a gaming machine, either internally or external to the machine.
Heretofore, each manufacturer of gaming machines has followed a vertically organized strategy for building their machines. Each manufacturer typically builds some of the necessary machine components and purchases others. Each machine design is generally a one-of-a-kind design with proprietary interconnection of the necessary machine components. Because of the fact that each gaming machine component typically has a proprietary electrical and communication interface, the resulting machines are a chaotic collection of point-to-point wiring, mechanical and software designs.
There are many disadvantages to this approach of the prior art. For example, as new gaming machines are designed, the “wheel” has typically been reinvented. Little of previous machine designs is re-usable in the new design. That is not only costly from both an engineering and manufacturing perspective, it also means that various regulatory and oversight agencies involved in monitoring the gaming industry must always start from scratch in their analysis of a new gaming machine design.
In the gaming industry it is not uncommon to purchase third-party add-on components for after-market installation either within a gaming machine or, as is the case with a secondary game, external to the original gaming machine. Because, heretofore, there has been little standardization within the industry, each after market component typically needs to be adapted to work with only a single machine or group of machines from a gaming machine manufacturer. A third-party manufacturer of such add-on components needs to have several versions available to service the range of machines deployed in the gaming parlors, casinos, etc. Again, this is costly and may lead to complications with the regulatory authorities.
Many of these types of problems are overcome by the universal serial interface/“plug and play” strategy of the present invention. A universal serial interface is provided for interconnection of both internal and external machine components. Each component is assigned a “Globally Unique Identification Number (GUIN) which positively identifies that component, sub-assembly, or game. A controller equipped with the necessary definition and configuration information both recognizes and establishes proper communications with each component, machine sub-system, or complete machine present on the serial network. This, in effect, establishes an interface strategy not unlike the ubiquitous “plug-and-play”, (or as it is often abbreviated, “PNP”) strategy used in the personal computer industry. The implication of this approach is that machine components and/or sub-systems may potentially be certified once and then re-used as required in numerous different machine designs. New machines could be more quickly designed, evaluated, certified and marketed. Third party vendors could produce only a single, universal version of their components, sub-systems or add-on machines.